Monthly Archives: February 2014

Invasive species aren’t just species—they can also be pathogens. Such is the case with the West Nile virus. A mosquito-borne virus identified in the West Nile subregion in Uganda in 1937—hence the name—West Nile wasn’t much of a concern to people elsewhere until it broke out of Africa in 1999. The first U.S. cases were confirmed in New York City in 1999, and it has now spread throughout much of the world. Though 80% of infections are subclinical—meaning they yield no symptoms—those who do get sick can get very sick.The virus can led to encephalitis—inflammation of the brain and nervous system—and even death, with 286 people dying from West Nile in the U.S. in 2012. There were more than 5,500 cases reported that year, and the scary thing is that as the climate warms, West Nile will continue to spread.

After reading Suzanne Moore’s only-half-serious advice on owning a penis, and fellow FTBer Ally Fogg’s insights on the relationship between men’s penises and society, I had an odd feeling that something was left out. Sure, their musings on the “male organ” were entertaining, but still somewhat limited in one important respect: they focused solely on men’s penises.

Now, I know a lot of people see these as inseparable, a perfect tautology of gender and anatomy. Men have penises, and people with penises are men. It’s an elegant notion, but one which fails to reflect the complex realities of today. Let’s face it – some women have penises, too. And that can be a pretty serious situation to find yourself in. What exactly are you supposed to do with your penis when you’re a woman?

Yes, men are the vast majority of the audience for penis-related advice, given that most penis-owners…

Important to fail! –many discoveries depend in failure systems! –advancements in, for instance, science depend on failure systems; recall those O-rings, and Feynman’s perseverance for forms of truth, that he wouldn’t have looked for without Challenger’s tragic –and preventable! –failure! –he was relentless, in uncovering what needed to be uncovered! –an idea is to build upon what was believed in the past, to update information, to not be afraid to attempt! –if the “worse” that can happen is “failure” –good! –fail to the best of one’s ability to fail! –too much emphasis is placed on that “highest” grade, but with an “A” a,so comes a ceiling, and that “A” indicates, that a form of “ceiling” has been attained, so there’s nowhere necessary to go; all that could be learned, has been learned! –but with an “F” (for “fine failure”, for instance, there’s many directions to proceed! –I’m so hungry for failure! –will be my lunch (1:22 pm EST)

Related to my last two posts, and our discussion, Sean Carroll turned in an answer to the “What Scientific Ideas Are Ready for Retirement?” His answer? Falsifiability.

Modern physics stretches into realms far removed from everyday experience, and sometimes the connection to experiment becomes tenuous at best. String theory and other approaches to quantum gravity involve phenomena that are likely to manifest themselves only at energies enormously higher than anything we have access to here on Earth. The cosmological multiverse and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics posit other realms that are impossible for us to access directly. Some scientists, leaning on Popper, have suggested that these theories are non-scientific because they are not falsifiable.

The truth is the opposite. Whether or not we can observe them directly, the entities involved in these theories are either real or they are not. Refusing to contemplate their possible existence…

The Comcast-Time Warner Cable Deal

In an apparent quest to consolidate consumer frustration, Comcast has announced that it is acquiring Time Warner Cable for a cool $45 billion. As Om Malik correctly points out, this deal is less about TV and more about Internet pipes. Will the Feds approve the deal? Regulators advised that the merger is important, and will be considered in the order it was received.

Imagine that you cannot see or hear and have no sense of smell, taste or touch. Imagine that you have no arms or legs or mouth. Imagine that you have no brain. How would you find food? How would you survive?

On his blog, Matt Russell tells the story of how bacteria manage to survive and thrive despite not having any of the basic tools that we would consider essential for living. It’s a story of survival against the odds that can perhaps teach us something about ourselves.

The law, which took effect in 1980, requires cans and bottles of beer, soda and water to be returned for a 5-cent deposit. Water bottles were added to the law in 2009.

But many more beverages are now available in individual containers, creating a lot of litter, said Sean Doyle, an associate with the environmental advocacy group ConnPIRG.

“There’s a lot of unnecessary waste that results from not including those other containers,” Doyle said.

ConnPIRG staff and volunteers are tentatively scheduled to submit about 4,000 petitions Friday to state lawmakers, urging them to expand the current law. Every lawmaker is expected to receive a petition signed by residents of his or her district.

I’m a writer also; I feed my mental and emotional selves via writing; tastes so good to do this; all for making money from it, and I will. Hard work ahead of course, need to “feed” myself, something nutritious –like the word “nutritious” itself

Makes so much sense: temperature of the meal should be whatever it is, palette adjusting as necessary; fluctuating as what’s served cools and acclimates to prevailing ambient temperature systems; hot for a while….

“A monk asked Donghan: ‘How do you avoid the discomfort of hot and cold?’
The master said: ‘Go to that place where there is no hot and cold.’
‘Where is that?’ asked the monk.
‘When you are hot, be hot. When you are cold, be cold.'”
~ Zen Mondo

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This is another great quote whose meaning to me has evolved alongside the changes in my own perception of the world around me.

I share it with all of you as something to come back to from time to time, to see if its meaning to you has deepened with your own growth.